Manton Reece is working from each one of his city’s parks, and I think this is a wonderful idea. And, after I get back from Newark, might start mapping out a plan to do the same.
Author Archives: Ross
Max and Ross Bike Things
As part of RVA Bike Month, on May 20th, my pal Max and I will lead you in, around, and through all of Richmond’s hottest transportation infrastructure—by bike! Expect entertaining banter about how all that infrastracuture came to be, what the political fights were like, and what’s in store for the future of biking and […]
Complaints against public institutions are always the same
This comment on an article about congestion pricing in NYC exactly mirrors the conversations we’re having in Richmond about schools funding. I’ve gone ahead and replaced “subway” with “schools” and “The MTA” with “RPS”: Yes we need money to fix the schools. But there is no mention of accountability. How will we know that this […]
Photo Challenge, Week 14: Titles
This week’s challenge was to focus on “the story within the image.” I took this picture of the Governor’s Mansion from the Grace Street overlook in Church Hill. If I had to title it, I’d go with something like Center of Controversy. I liked the green space surrounding and isolating the Mansion—and the man who […]
Paying for the thing
If you’re into podcasts specifically or side hustles in general, I recommend subscribing to the Hot Pod newsletter. Every week, Nick Quah gives an exhaustive look at what’s happening in the world’s podzone—lately a lot of that is fretting, consternation, and speculation over paywalled and subscription-based podcasts. As a guy who has a podcast or […]
Spring in the city
Photo Challenge, Week 12: Nature macro
THE END IS NIGH
Seeking a diverse tribe
From Seth Godin’s recent blog about the monopoly of Google search: While it’s tempting to seek to be picked by authorities and found by strangers, the more reliable path is to organize and connect those that seek to be part of a tribe, to establish better cultural norms and then persist in making promises and […]
This is the best picture of food I’ve ever taken 🍕
Photo Challenge, Week 12: Window reflections
Peanut butter. Here’s a picture of a man with a foot injury wearing pink pants, though.
Accidentally forever bike
Bike Snob’s Outside magazine column about “forever bikes” hits me in the feels: There’s also yet another way to obtain a forever bike, and that’s by accident. Sometimes a bike starts out as nothing particularly special, then years later you realize it’s become such a part of your life that you can’t imagine ever being […]
Photo Challenge, Week 11: B&W portrait
This was fun, and my family was very patient with me. Thanks, family! I did get a few more that turned out great but were deemed “too weird” by the model to post online. Which, fair enough.
Elizabeth Warren on housing
Take a minute and read though Elizabeth Warren’s housing plan which addresses supply, land use, parking minimums, and the continuing impact of redlining on Black communities. I’ll tell you what, it’s rad to see a legit presidential candidate talking about land use and parking. But there’s another driver of expensive housing costs: some state and […]
Photo Challenge, Week 10: Single subject
Who can deny the wonderful branding of Genesee??
The War on Cars in Cincinnati
My pal Cam, from the Better Bus Coalition in Cincinnati showed up on the most recent episode of the War on Cars podcast: What if you could get around quickly and reliably in a state-of-the-art vehicle that you didn’t have to drive, park, fuel, or insure? No, it’s not an Uber or a self-driving car… […]
Top ten
Photo Challenge, Week 9: Found still life
What does this challenge even mean?? I don’t know enough to know what qualifies as a still life and what does not, so here are a couple photos of things being very still—because they are inanimate.
Meg weird
All of these tending apps sound like they come right out of Feed.
We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck
I’m going to be thinking about Feed by M.T. Anderson for a long time. It’s mostly a not-too-far-off description of the logical conclusion of social media and capitalism, and was written in 2001 (before social media existed!?) but feels terribly present-day. It’s a horrible prophecy that we should have all heard and then used to […]